It is basically an Armour/HP version of the former. The concept and gameplay is the same, but the purpose of this guide is to provide an alternative to players who prefer HP over CI but who still want to experience the high-paced style of the CI version.

Warning: This is not an easy build. Because of the number of points required to do a skilgrimage to Mara and Templar sides of the tree, you might end up feeling weak and undergeared/underleveled for periods of time. However, persevere on and thou shalt be rewarded!

Aura gems should always be leveled, Clarity should not be leveled past 3. Curse gems should not be leveled at all. Lightning Strike should not be leveled past 9 initially.

As a rule, when in doubt, check the wikipedia to make sure your stats can actually support the gems before leveling it up.

Everything else can and should be leveled.

Should I use LS as an AoE option early on?

"

Nope, stick to a combination of Fire Trap and Freezing Pulse plus LMP for early game AoE options. If you're using swords, cleave is an option as well. LS only outweighs the other options later on in the game.

Are mana problems prevalent with this build?

"

They're prevalent with most shadow builds in general early on. However, that will change later on in the game. If you're having mana problems, run 2 Health Flasks and 3 Mana Flasks for now, and make sure you don't overspam your mana flasks. There's no point in using your flasks twice within one second as the effects don't stack.

What is this build about?
It's a build inspired by my CI Crit Dagger Shadow and follows the same concept.

As usual, I try to balance DPS with adequate survivability and this build is no exception.

This build, instead of its predecessor which focused around CI, focuses instead on HP and Armour as defense. Like its predecessor, it uses Lightning Strike as the AOE CC skill, Viper Strike/Elemental Hit/Double Strike as the main dps skill in 1v1 bosses/pvp situations and Flicker Strike as a high DPS spam skill when needed.

DPS-wise it leans heavily on criticals and hence revolves around a high crit-chance and high crit damage multiplier build for dealing damage while taking advantage of the criticals to recharge granite flasks quickly.

Defense-wise it relies on using high DPS to cap Life Leech, making full use of Armour, Endurance Charges as well as Granites.

The Key KeystonesEldritch Battery - Converts your energy shield to mana thereby increasing your mana pool tremendously which is highly useful for running the auras that this build will need.

Gameplay Videos

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_1X2U-L014 - by Boris3064, many thanks!

Bandit Quest Reward ChoicesNormal: Help Oak for HP
Cruel: Help Oak for 12% increased physical damage
Merciless: Help Kraityn for +1 Frenzy Charge or Oak for +1 Endurance Charge or Alira for +1 Power Charge

Alter the progression of the build in terms of your preference
1. Can't wait to get higher DPS? You can always sacrifice some HP nodes earlier on
2. Need more HP? You can always sacrifice some DPS nodes earlier on
3. Really really want Inner Force? You can always sacrifice some HP/DPS nodes

Pros and Cons of this BuildPros
1. An extremely fun build, yielding very high DPS
2. High survivability, with high life and high DR from Endurance Charges, Armour and GranitesCons
1. Base accuracy is abit low due to the lack of Dex nodes, but can be countered by getting items with +accuracy
2. Will be quite a difficult build to achieve

won't be available anytime soon! But for DPS values they should be similar to my CI Crit Dagger Shadow

Gameplay Style

Spoiler

Usage of Flasks
Using the Granite Flasks constantly will keep you at >70% damage reduction or >55% DR and +24% resistances all the time, and as they recharge one charge everytime you deal a crit strike, feel free to use them generously!

Auras and Active SkillsVitality (optional), Haste, Hatred, Wrath, Anger.
Vitality to allow for FOC Blood Rage. (not necessary if you have high enough Chaos res)
Haste to increase DPS and remove the clunkiness of wearing Armour.
Hatred, Wrath and Anger for more DPS.

Blood Rage
With the regen from the regen nodes that I've picked as well as from Vitality, you will get around 4.3% total life regen per sec which after deduction from Blood Rage, will still give you a net amount of +0.5% life regen per sec.

So, since it's not gonna cost a thing, switch it on, kill a few mobs, watch the frenzy charges pile up, get the bonus life steal and be even more awesome!

CursesWarlord's Mark increases your %life leech and %mana leech, allowing you to cap your life leech rate as well as increasing the sustainability of your mana. Add to that the the increase in flask charges gained as well as an additional constant 20% Damage Reduction from having 4 Endurance Charges, what more could a man want!

Versus MobsLightning strike will be your main skill. There's no need to tank the enemies. You can just stay from distance, curse them, hold down shift and then press whatever button it is that controls your lightning strike and watch it
annihilate the mobs!

1v1 BossesViper Strike. Best early-game and arguably mid-game skill when you're still weak and need to kite bosses to stay alive. Also a super useful skill for elemental resist rares and bosses like Vaal where you're constantly trying to avoid their high elemental damage skills.

Elemental Hit. Best mid-game skill when you no longer need to kite bosses that much and would rather kill them face to face. The added elemental damage helps in freezing/shocking/burning your opponent when you crit. It is most effective with a fast weapon as a fair amount of damage dealt is skill-based and is independent of your weapon damage. (in that sense it is somewhat similar to viper strike except viper strike is capped at 4 buffs/second)

Double Strike.Best end-game skill when your base damage is high enough such that 2 x 70% of your base damage (level 1 gem) still yields higher damage than the extra damage provided by Elemental Hit and the extra chaos damage provided by Viper Strike. Better yet, the mana cost is so low as to be negligible in late game. Also, since double strike processes as 2 hits and the second hit will always be a crit if the first one is, it allows for shock-stacking and double charging of surgeon's flasks whenever you crit

Flicker Strike
Always a useful spell when you want to catch/hit an opponent who is running away, be it a ranged mob or an enemy player. Not just that, it has tremendous dps as well, especially if you link more damage based gems to it.

Usage Methods
- If you get bored of owning mobs with LS and want to give yourself a mild headache, top up your frenzy charges and let loose with flicker spam! 0 cd with your charges up and if you get to KO enemies with 1 hit, which is often the case as you crit often, your frenzy charge recharges and you get to flicker more. My flicker usually lasts on average 8 times before exhausting all my charges.
- If you find yourself in a situation where you get punctured and you cannot move (or else you'll take added damage) while mobs are starting to surround you, use flicker to get out of trouble by flickering to a ranged mob outside of the pack surrounding you, or just spam flicker strike and flicker till the puncture CDs, allowing you to deal damage and avoid damage from puncture and from most normal hits/spells. (you don't take damage from puncture while flickering, but you will if you whirl out of battle)

Escape Method
Whirling blades, that is all

Early Game Gameplay Tips

Spoiler

Not very different from the advice I give in my other guides.

Early Game Gear
Focus on gear that gives you +life, namely leather belts with +life and rings/ammys with +life.

Skill Gems

AOE/CCFire Trap is very useful early on in the game for AoE and kiting purposes.

Freezing Pulse + LMP is also a very good option (my favourite option) that can last you all the way till Cruel Act3 too.

If you're using a claw, Whirling Blades will be the best AoE for you early on in the game.

Bosses/Individual monsters
Normal should be safe enough for you to dual wield weapons and use Dual Strike. The DPS benefit which allows you to speedrun through the earlier levels much faster far outweighs the paltry defensive bonuses provided by the low level shields. However, make sure you keep a Viper Strike gem socketed and continue to level it. You will need it once you switch to 1h + Shield.

SurvivabilityNormal-CruelSummon Skeletons. Especially useful against flicker mobs and Kraitlyn as it gives them an additional target to flicker to and spares you the agony of being spam flickered to death.

Cruel OnwardsSpell Totem + Summon Skeletons will be your best friend. This spell summons a totem which will summon skeletons around enemy monsters, thus shifting aggro away from you.

CursesTemporal Chains/Enfeeble early on in the game if you need survivability.Warlord's Mark after

Playstyle Versus Bosses
This is pretty much the same in most AARPGs. You will be very weak early on. Your key to defeating the bosses will be to kite them. Viper Strike them to 4 charges, switch to Dual Strike, then escape to recharge HP/ES when you get low, then repeat cycle till they die.

Against elemental bosses such as Merv and Vaal, stack resist rings. Versus Merv, get cold resists. Versus Vaal, get BOTH Fire and Lightning Resists. (Very important)

First off, you are going to need a grand total of 60% chaos resistance on your gear to counter the chaos resist penalty in merci if you want to be able to use Blood Rage without any problems. So make sure you do.

Amulet: Life is a priority, after which resists, +crit chance and +crit multiplier

Rings: Life and resists are a must. The rest are in order of descending priority: +Lightning damage, +Mana, Increased Attack Speed.

Belt: 21-30% Elemental Damage with Resists and +life

The defensive gear types I would advise you to go for would be:Astral PlateAr/ES Shield
Of the remaining three pieces, (Boots, Head, Gloves) go for 2 Pure Armour, 1 Ar/ES

How do I get better gear?
Trading for better pieces of gear will be your main source. However, there will come a point when you realise that you can no longer get better gear through trading, and that is where crafting comes in, as explained in the next section.

Why do you go all the way to the templar/marauder trees to get life nodes instead of going to the duelist/ranger trees to get life nodes there and also get iron reflexes? I'm probably missing something.

As a newer player, threads like this are invaluable resources in easing the learning curve of this game.

Thanks a lot, will be going through and asking questions a lot probably.

Is there any level/point in this build where it would be viable to switch to CI (because of it being more beneficial in a given situation, or maybe even better as we will find out soon) or would that require dropping too many health nodes, etc.?

Blood Rage
With the regen from the regen nodes that I've picked as well as from Vitality, you will get around 4.3% total life regen per sec which after deduction from Blood Rage, will still give you a net amount of +5% life regen per sec.

so for now with -60% chaos resistance 4% chaos damage become a 6.4%
btw you can stack chaos resist and reduce it ever below 4%

just want remind it ^^

nice build btw i try to rebuild CI version many time and this beat all my variation